page_title: William Thompson Lusk
section_title: After war
hierarchical_section_title: William Thompson Lusk / Career / After war
caption_attribution_description: English: A portrait of William Thompson Lusk
context_page_description: William Thompson Lusk was an American obstetrician and a soldier who rose to the rank of Assistant Adjutant-General in the United States Volunteers during the first three years of the American Civil War. After he retired from the Union Army, he finished his medical education and became a professor as well as a president of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He received much recognition and fame for his 1882 book, The Science and Art of Midwifery, which quickly became a widely referenced text.
context_section_description: After he left the war, he returned to Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he finished medical school and received his M.D. in 1864. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class.  After that he spent one year in Europe studying under various medical professionals, though his New York Times obituary lists this time period as having lasted 4 years. He studied in Edinburgh with James Y. Simpson, in Vienna with Carl Braun, and then in Prague with Seifert. Lusk came back to New York in 1868 to establish his practice.
  On his return from Europe, Lusk was appointed Professor of Physiology at Long Island College Hospital. In the winter of 1871, on the invitation of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Lusk moved to Boston to lecture on physiology at Harvard Medical School. Lusk was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Bellevue Hospital Medical College until his death after the previous seatholder, Dr. George T. Elliot, died. At the same time as accepting the professorship, he also became co-editor of The Medical Journal, and held that position from 1871 to 1873, and also became a visiting physician at Bellevue Hospital. Just a few hours later, Harvard offered him a position, which he declined. In 1890, upon the hospital's consolidation with New York University Medical College, Lusk became President of Bellevue Hospital Medical College
  On October 5, 1886, Lusk joined New York Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He also joined George Washington Post, No. 103, Dept. New York, Grand Army of the Republic on March 17, 1887.
caption: A portrait of William Thompson Lusk
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